Military wives become pin-up girls for their men in Iraq

In a hot pink house in LA, a photography studio run by two women has become the site of a growing trend - wives and girlfriends of soldiers stationed overseas in Iraq and Afghanistan are deciding to send a 'different kind' of package to their men. Instead of cookies and magazines, they are sending photographs of themselves in the form of sultry prints, books and even calendars! Nowadays, the centrefolds taped to the boys' lockers may be their own girl from home.

All things "retro" are back in. "The look the women are going for when they come in for a photo shoot is that vintage style posing made famous by such classic pinups as Betty Grable and Jane Mansfield," says Lori Mann, photographer and co-owner of Pink Kitty Studios. "The girls often wear classic clothing, and we have lots of props that are throwbacks to that WWII era." Vintage hair and make-up is also considered essential, and experts are brought in to the studio to spend a couple hours with the women before the pictures are shot.

Pin-up girls

"The funny thing," says Adrienne Cragnotti, set and clothing stylist at Pink Kitty Studios, "is that although the photographs are very classic in feel, the technology we use is completely modern. So along with the calendars and centrefolds that the women send to their men they usually send a CD of all the images that the men can look at on their computers while there." Space is a problem for the soldiers so a small book or CD of images of their wife or girlfriend in a sexy pose is often preferable to stacks of girlie magazines. Adrienne adds, "I imagine the women packing up the CDs in tissue and ribbon with a spray of perfume, just like old love letters."

Lori and Adrienne have both been in the glamour photography business for over fifteen years. What makes them unique is that both have been in front of the camera themselves many, many times, so know what the customers are going through and how they feel. The women are more comfortable with them then they perhaps would be with male photographers. Lori adds "many of the women state that they're not sure how their husbands would feel about them shedding their clothes for a male photographer while they are stationed 10,000 miles away!"

Click on the images for larger images with extra detail.

Visit Lori Mann's Pink Kitty website to find out more.